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All rules

SEO-021

Page redirects with a meta refresh

MediumDefault severity · SEO / Quality · SEO, quality and performance

Last reviewed

What it checks

<meta http-equiv="refresh"> tags that send the visitor to another URL.

Why it matters

Meta refresh redirects are slow, can be disorienting for screen-reader users (WCAG 2.2.1) and pass ranking signals less reliably than a server redirect.

Recommended fix

Use a server-side 301 or 308 redirect instead.

How to verify

Request the old URL and confirm an HTTP 301/308.

Example fix prompt

Generic prompt (your report adds the evidence)
Please fix this production issue in my app.

Issue SEO-021: Page redirects with a meta refresh
Site: https://your-app.example

First confirm the issue in the code or live config. If it is not present, say so and change nothing.
Task: Replace the meta refresh in the evidence with a server-side permanent redirect (framework or hosting redirect config) and remove the meta tag.

Constraints: make the smallest change that fixes this, keep the current design and behaviour, never paste secret values into code or chat, and tell me which files you changed.
Done when: Request the old URL and confirm an HTTP 301/308.

References